Project  Teaching:  Pupils  Planning 
Practical  Activities 

By 
Samuel  Chester  Parker 


1027 


PROJECT  TEACHING:  PUPILS  PLANNING 
PRACTICAL  ACTIVITIES 


SAMUEL  CHESTER  PARKER 

ional  Metb. 


lepri  •      •      : 


THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  EDUCATION 
THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO 


COPYRIGHT  1922  BY 
SAMUEL  CHESTER  PARKER 


All  Rights  Reserved 


Published  March  1933 


the  Department  of  Education,  University  oi  Chicago. 

:          • 


FducttioB 
Library 

HERN  BRANCH,  ' 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,     i 

LIBRARY, 

LOS  A 


PROJECT  TEACHING:    PUPILS  PLANNING 
PRACTICAL  ACTIVITIES 


SAMUEL  CHESTER  PARKER 
University  of  Chicago 


ARTICLE  I 

Divisions  of  the  discussion. — The  following  discussion  of  project 
teaching  will  be  divided  into  seven  sections:  I.  Definition;  II. 
Recent  examples;  III.  Historical  development;  #  IV.  Values; 
V.  Limitations;  VI.  Technique;  VII.  Conclusions. 

I.      DEFINITION   OF   PROJECT   TEACHING 

Pupils  planning  practical1  activities. — The  central  element  in 
project  teaching  is  the  planning  by  pupils  of  some  practical  activity, 
something  to  be  done.  Hence,  a  pupil-project  is  any  unit  of 
activity  that  makes  the  pupils  responsible  for  such  practical  plan- 
ning. It  gives  them  practice  in  devising  ways  and  means  and  in 
selecting  and  rejecting  methods  of  achieving  some  definite  practical 
end.  This  conception  conforms  with  the  dictionary  definition  of 
a  project  as  "something  of  a  practical  nature  thrown  out  for  the 
consideration  of  its  being  done"  and  with  the  dictionary  statement 
that  "to  project"  means  "to  contrive,  to  devise,  to  scheme." 
Furthermore,  it  describes  with  considerable  precision  a  specific 
kind  of  improved  teaching  that  has  become  common  in  progressive 
experimental  schools  since 


'The  word  "practical"  is  here  used  as  the  opposite  of  "theoretical"  according 
to  the  following  definitions  from  Webster's  Dictionary:  "Practical,  i.  Of  or  pertaining 
to  practice  or  action.  2.  Capable  of  being  turned  to  use  or  account;  useful  in  distinc- 
tion from  ideal  or  theoretical;  as  practical  chemistry."  "Theoretical.  Pertaining  to 
theory;  depending  on,  or  confined  to,  theory  or  speculation;  speculative;  terminating 
in  theory  or  speculation;  not  practical;  as  theoretical  learning;  theoretic  sciences." 

3  Perhaps  the  briefest  definition  of  a  project  for  our  purposes  would  read  as  follows: 
A  pupil-project  is  a  unit  of  practical  activity  planned  by  the  pupils.  The  author  has 
revised  the  use  of  the  term  "project"  in  his  General  Methods  of  Teaching  in  Elementary 
Schools  (Ginn  &  Co.)  to  conform  to  this  more  precise  meaning  and  has  added  in  the 
revised  edition  (1922)  a  brief  chapter  on  project  teaching  along  the  lines  of  this 
article. 

i 


2  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL 

II.      RECENT  EXAMPLES   OF   PROJECT   TEACHING 

Historical  construction  projects.  Variations  in  pupils'  plan- 
ning.— We  may  illustrate  project  teaching,  as  well  as  the  pertinency 
of  our  definition,  by  three  similar  pictures  of  projects  in  medieval 
history.  In  these  cases  three  different  fifth-grade  classes  of  the 
University  of  Chicago  Elementary  School  all  had  the  same  practical 
problem  of  illustrating  certain  phases  of  medieval  life;  yet  the 
outcomes  varied  greatly  owing  to  the  variations  in  the  pupils' 
planning.  The  nature  of  the  pupil-activities  in  developing  such 
a  project  is  suggested  by  the  following  description: 

The  castle  and  fortified  town  shown  in  [Fig.  i]  were  constructed  out  of 
cardboard  by  a  fifth-grade  class  which  was  studying  the  Feudal  Age  in  European 
history.  The  children  had  read  the  stories  of  King  Arthur  and  other  knights, 
as  well  as  descriptions  of  life  in  town  and  castle.  On  the  basis  of  this  reading, 
they  planned  an  imaginary  mediaeval  town  and  castle  as  shown  in  the  drawings 
on  the  blackboard.  They  then  constructed  the  walls  and  buildings  from  card- 
board coated  with  a  preparation  of  flour  and  salt  to  resemble  stone.  Certain 
parts  were  colored  with  coffee,  water  colors,  etc. 

The  fortified  town  shown  on  the  left  contained  one  building  for  each  type 
of  craftsman  or  merchant,  the  tailor,  the  metal  worker,  the  importer  of  baled 
goods,  etc.  In  the  public  square  was  shown  a  mediaeval  fair.  The  crowded 
condition  of  a  mediaeval  town  was  brought  out  by  the  narrow  streets  and 
overhanging  second  stories  of  the  houses.  On  the  right  is  the  castle  of  the 
baron  who  was  lord  of  the  region.  Between  the  town  and  the  castle  are  the 
feudal  lands,  owned  by  the  baron,  and  cultivated  in  strips  according  to 
mediaeval  practices. 

Too  small  to  be  seen  in  the  picture  is  a  procession  of  knights  proceeding 
from  the  castle  to  the  town  to  attend  the  fair.  On  the  .blackboard  in  the 
left-center  are  sketches  of  historical  costumes  in  which  the  little  dolls  repre- 
senting the  characters  were  dressed. 

The  next  fifth-grade  class  which  worked  on  this  project  constructed  a 
historical  castle  instead  of  an  imaginary  one.  They  chose  the  castle  of  Kenil- 
worth  and  from  books  of  travel,  encyclopedias,  etc.,  obtained  the  details  of 
its  construction.  Later  they  wrote  a  play  centering  in  a  visit  of  Queen 
Elizabeth  to  Kenilworth  and  the  return  of  Drake  from  one  of  his  voyages. 
As  a  piece  of  co-operative  work  in  English  the  class  wrote  the  following  poem 
concerning  their  work: 

OUR  CASTLE  IN  THE  SAND-PAN 

Within  our  sand-pan  straight  and  long, 
We've  built  an  ancient  castle  strong; 


FIG.  2. — Another  fifth-grade  project  in  medieval  history.     Contrast  the  castle  in 
this  picture  with  the  one  in  Fig.  i. 


FIG.  3. — Another  town-and-castle  project.    The  same  problem  for  the  pupils  as 
in  Fig.  i ;  note  the  different  outcomes  from  the  pupils'  practical  planning. 


PROJECT  TEACHING  3 

It  has  some  battlemented  towers 
That  guard  the  lovely  ladies'  bowers; 
A  moat  that's  deep  and  wide  around, 
And  green  grass  growing  on  the  ground. 

We  now  have  built  a  mighty  keep, 

Also  a  hall  where  knights  do  sleep. 

We've  built  a  wall  around  the  grotto 

Which  we  have  carved  with  Leicester's  motto. 

Our  Kenilworth  is  fair  and  gay 
With  banners  floating  all  the  day, 
For  good  Queen  Bess  in  royal  array 
Is  coming  in  her  barge  this  day. 
All  loyal  hearts  these  means  employ, 
To  show  how  full  they  are  of  joy.1 

A  composition  project. — The  writing  of  this  poem  illustrates 
project  teaching  in  English  composition  and  helps  us  to  realize 
that  not  all  projects  involve  manual  construction.  In  this  par- 
ticular case  this  fifth-grade  class  had  been  discussing  what 
contribution  they  should  make  to  the  school  periodical  which  was 
edited  and  printed  by  the  pupils.  They  decided  to  write  an  account 
of  their  "Castle  in  the  Sand-Pan."  Each  pupil  wrote  inde- 
pendently, and  then  the  class  listened  to  several  of  the  composi- 
tions. One  pupil  had  written  his  in  verse  form,  and  the  class  de- 
cided to  tinker  this  composition  and  publish  it.  The  outcome  was 
the  poem  presented. 

Subdivided  labor  on  a  class  project. — The  part  played  by  the 
subdivision  of  labor  on  a  class  project  may  be  illustrated  by  Figure  2. 
The  children  who  constructed  this  scene  had  read  Howard  Pyle's 
King  Arthur  and  had  listened  to  Scott's  description  of  the  tourna- 
ment scene  in  Ivanhoe.  After  considerable  discussion  and  planning, 
a  committee  of  three  children  constructed  in  plasticine  the  castle 
shown  at  the  left.  For  its  plan  they  followed  the  large  illustration 
shown  hanging  in  Figures  i  and  3.  Other  children  constructed  the 
moat,  the  roadway,  and  the  inclosure  for  the  tournament.  Many 
children  were  engaged  in  constructing  the  pavilions  on  the  right 
for  the  king  and  queen  and  the  lords  and  ladies.  The  costumes 

1  S.  C.  Parker,  General  Methods  of  Teaching  in  Elementary  Schools,  pp.  8-10. 
Boston:  Ginn  &  Co.,  1919. 


4  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [January 

for  the  doll  characters  called  for  considerable  knowledge  and 
ingenuity.  The  periods  for  manual  training  and  for  history  for 
about  one  week  centered  in  this  project. 

How  a  teacher  attacks  a  class  project. — The  manner  in  which 
an  experienced  project  teacher  attacks  the  actual  development  of 
a  project  by  a  class  is  charmingly  suggested  by  the  following 
quotation  from  an  account  by  Miss  Jennie  Hall1  of  the  activities 
of  a  fourth-grade  class  in  preparing  a  dramatization  of  a  certain 
portion  of  the  story  of  Achilles  to  be  presented  to  the  Francis  W. 
Parker  School  at  the  morning  assembly.  The  description  reads  in 
part  as  follows: 

With  a  theme  that  so  enlisted  feeling,  we  should  surely  get  vigorous, 
creative  acting.  So  I  suggested*  making  a  play.  As  always,  the  idea  was 
hailed  with  joy. 

Many  times  before  this  I  had  had  experience  with  plays  so  sliced  up  into 
acts  that  drawing  the  curtain  had  occupied  more  time  than  the  dialogue.  My 
excuse  to  myself  had  been  that  that  was  the  way  the  children  had  planned 
it.  But  I  had  now  begun  to  think  that  it  was  as  much  my  business  to  super- 
vise3 children's  play-making  as  their  number  work,  and  not  to  let  their  untrained 
habits  run  riot  there  any  more  than  among  the  multiplication  tables.  So  I 
took  a  short  cut  and  said :  "Now,  let's  not  try  to  tell  the  whole  story  of  Achilles 
in  our  play,  but  just  his  getting  angry  and  getting  over  it."  The  suggestion 
was  adopted. 

Now  attention  was  focused  upon  a  small  area  of  the  story,  and  some 
fulness  of  delineation  was  possible.  There  is  always,  I  suppose,  a  good  deal 
of  vagueness  and  delay  in  the  attack.  When  your  boat  lies  beached,  it  takes 
much  shouting  and  running  about  to  get  it  launched.  "What  is  going  to 
happen  first?"  was  our  starting  question.  "The  quarrel,"  was  the  class 

1  Miss  Hall  was  one  of  the  most  skilful  and  valuable  teachers  in  America's  experi- 
mental schools.  She  was  author  of  a  notable  series  of  children's  history  stories, 
including  "Viking  Tales,"  "Our  Ancestors  in  Europe,"  "The  Story  of  Chicago," 
etc.  She  died  in  1921. 

3  This  statement  illustrates  the  fact  that  some  of  the  best  educative  pupil-projects, 
perhaps  most  of  them,  originate  in  some  suggestion  by  the  teacher.  This  parallels 
situations  in  social  life  where  projects  are  frequently  suggested  by  one  person,  but 
planned  and  carried  out  largely  by  others. 

*  This  paragraph  shows  how  the  teacher  may  be  a  very  strong  directing  force  in 
the  development  of  a  pupil-project  and  yet  leave  large  scope  for  active  pupil-planning 
and  -scheming,  as  will  appear  in  the  later  paragraphs.  This  again  parallels  situations 
in  social  life  where  the  director  of  a  business  or  other  enterprise  may  exert  a  strong 
guidance  in  the  various  projects  of  the  organization,  but  at  the  same  time  give  his 
subordinates  considerable  scope  for  initiative,  scheming,  and  planning. 


1922}  PROJECT  TEACHING  5 

answer.  Now,  to  be  sure,  not  all  the  children  at  once  cried  one  answer  in 
one  voice.  But  the  same  thing  happened  that  we  have  all  seen  occur  in  a  large 
social  group — be  it  a  class  of  children  or  a  political  convention.  Some  original 
genius  ventured  a  suggestion.  This  released  the  gears  in  other  brains,  and 
more  suggestions  came.  Analytical  minds  saw  difficulties  and  advantages; 
opinions  were  modified,  and  new  suggestions  made,  until  one  came  that  brought 
a  glow  and  nod  of  satisfaction  from  the  majority  of  the  class.  That  one  we 
adopted,  and  we  then  moved  forward  at  my  command,  for  creation  must  go 
on  with  a  dash,  while  the  fife  and  drums  are  playing.  So  any  piece  of  composite 
work  ....  hints  at  dead  and  wounded  ideas  and  lost  causes  along  the  line 
of  march.  Generally  it  is  worth  while  to  stop  and  argue  out  a  moot  point, 
but  if  there  is  a  sign  that  the  interest  of  the  majority  is  flagging,  up  standards 
and  forward!  and  leave  the  malcontents  to  clamor.  "What  shall  happen 
next  ?  and  next  ?  "  So  we  worked  out  our  plot-quarrel,  meeting  to  discuss  how 
to  get  Achilles  back,  Achilles'  refusal  to  return,  death  of  Patroclus,  recon- 
ciliation of  Achilles  and  Agamemnon.  The  children  pondered  the  plot  with 
delight.  The  climax  perfectly  satisfied  them.  Achilles  and  Agamemnon 
should  shake  hands  and  say,  "Let  bygones  be  bygones,"  and  we  could  forgive 
Achilles  and  be  happy. 

This  planning  was  all  done  in  one  day.  The  next  morning,  I  saw  that  the 
children  were  hungry  for  acting,  and  that  they  must  not  be  put  off  with  further 
planning  of  details.  I  chose  the  most  enthusiastic  volunteers  for  Achilles  and 
Agamemnon  and  Calchas.  They  came  up  to  act  and  flatly  failed — could  not 
think  of  a  word  to  say.  Then  I  asked,  "Well,  what  could  they  say?"  We 
heard  any  speech  that  anybody  had  to  offer,  picked  another  troupe  and  tried 
again.  Next  day  there  was  less  eagerness  about  volunteering  to  act,  and  some- 
one explained:  "You  get  up  there  and  you  don't  know  what  to  say."  So  we 
thereupon  set  about  planning  the  speeches  of  the  scene.1 

How  pupils  discuss  and  organize  a  project. — A  concrete  notion 
of  what  the  pupils  actually  say  and  do  during  their  planning  of  a 
project  may  be  derived  from  the  following  stenographic  report  of 
the  discussion  by  a  fourth  grade  that  was  preparing  an  assembly 
exercise  in  the  Francis  W.  Parker  School  on  the  poet  Blake  whose 
poems  and  life  they  had  been  studying.  After  the  class  had  dis- 
cussed the  desirability  of  preparing  the  exercise  the  conversation 
continued  as  follows: 

Robert  G.:  If  it  is  just  going  to  be  Blake's  poems,  I  think  we  should  tell 
something  about  him. 

1  Second  Yearbook  of  the  Francis  W.  Parker  School,  pp.  29-30.  Chicago:  Francis 
W.  Parker  School  (330  Webster  Avenue),  1913.  $0.45.  The  best  publication  on 
assembly  projects. 


6  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [January 

Teacher:  How  many  like  that  idea  ?     (Many  hands.) 

Teacher:  What  things  shall  we  tell  about  him  ?  (Teacher  writes  topics 
on  the  board  as  they  are  suggested.) 

Child:  Where  he  was  born. 

Child:  What  he  was  interested  in. 

Child:  His  visions. 

Teacher:  What  visions  ? 

Child:  When  he  saw  the  child  in  the  cloud. 

Child:  The  tree  full  of  angels. 

Child:  Fairy's  funeral. 

Child:  The  men  he  saw  go  to  the  altar — the  apostles. 

Miriam:  One  time  he  was  sitting  on  the  seashore,  and  saw  the  kings  and 
all  the  pages,  and  the  people  going  along  the  shore. 

Karl:  And  once  when  his  brother  died,  he  thought  he  saw  his  soul  go  up 
to  heaven. 

Mary:  How  he  came  to  write  his  poems  and  how  he  learned  to  engrave. 

Charles:  You  would  not  call  it  sculpture  if  he  engraved  things. 

Teacher:  Who  will  set  Charles  right  ? 

Charles:  A  sculptor  makes  statues  from  marble  and  an  engraver  carves 
great  stones. 

Teacher:  No. 

Further  planning  and  discussion  followed,  and  certain  children 
volunteered  to  prepare  to  talk  upon  the  various  topics  outlined  on 
the  board.  The  next  day  the  lesson  proceeded  as  follows: 

(On  the  board  was  the  list  of  points  planned  the  day  before,  with  names 
of  children  volunteering  to  talk  on  each  topic.)  Teacher:  Yesterday  we  began 
to  plan  our  morning  exercises  about  Blake.  Without  my* saying  anything, 
let  the  children  come  in  the  order  in  which  their  names  appear  on  the  board. 
And  remember  that  you  must  connect  with  one  another,  so  the  story  will  be 
complete. 

Several  children  then  gave  the  talks  they  had  prepared,  after 
which  a  critical  discussion  of  their  performances  began  as  follows: 

Teacher:  What  do  you  think  ?  Does  that  do  what  you  want  done  for 
the  story  ?  I  am  not  asking  you  to  choose  the  people  who  seem  to  you  to  do 
it  best,  but  whether  you  think  it  is  right  for  the  story  of  Blake's  life.  Or  are 
there  things  left  out,  or  is  it  not  pleasant  the  way  it  is  planned  ? 

Child:  I  don't  like  the  way  some  of  them  said  he  saw  his  brother's  soul 
clapping  his  hands. 

Teacher:  But  that  is  what  Blake  said. 

Robert  G.:  I  think  someone  ought  to  tell  about  his  engraving. 

Mary:  I  thought  you  only  wanted  the  drawing.    I  can  change  it. 


i922]  PROJECT  TEACHING  7 

Teacher:  It  is  not  true,  Mary,  that  he  did  most  of  his  drawing  before  he 
was  married.  He  went  on  all  his  life.  All  the  famous  book  drawings  he 
made  later  in  life.  And  Fred,  you  gave  me  the  impression  that  Blake  did  not 
know  very  much. 

Frederick:  Well,  he  did  not  go  to  school,  did  he  ? 

Teacher:  No,  but  he  studied  and  was  an  educated  man . 

Frances:  He  said  he  got  his  education  from  reading.    He  read  all  the  time. 

Teacher:  What  do  you  think  about  what  Rene  had  to  say,  John  ? 

John:  I  don't  think  it  was  quite  enough. 

Child:  I  think  he  ought  to  tell  more  dates,  when  he  started  engraving  and 
some  things. 

Teacher:  How  many  were  interested  in  what  Rene  said  ?  (A  few  hands.) 
How  many  were  not  ?  (Many  hands.) 

Teacher:  Why  was  it  that  what  he  said  was  not  interesting  ?r 

This  critical  discussion  with  further  planning  continued  on  the 
second  day  until  satisfactory  schemes  were  devised.  On  the  third 
and  fourth  days  the  aspiring  performers  were  further  tried  out  in 
the  classroom.  Finally,  the  children  who  were  chosen  to  present 
the  exercise  to  the  morning  assembly  of  the  school  rehearsed  once 
in  the  assembly  hall. 

Over  two  hundred  projects  in  National  Society  Yearbook. — One 
of  the  most  suggestive  collections  of  examples  of  project  teaching 
is  the  Twentieth  Yearbook  of  the  National  Society  for  the  Study  of 
Education,  Part  I.2  This  contains  brief  accounts  of  285  examples 
of  teaching,  many  of  which  involve  practical  planning  by  pupils. 
The  great  variety  of  opportunities  for  such  practical  planning  in 
progressive  school  work  is  suggested  by  the  following  titles  of 
a  few  of  the  projects  described  in  this  yearbook:  "A  Kindergarten 
Circus,"  "A  Doll  Sale,"  "The  'We  Like  It'  Cafeteria,"  "Drama- 
tization of  'The  Hardy  Tin  Soldier/"  "An  Imaginary  Trip  Around 
the  World,"  "A  Celebration  for  Columbus  Day,"  "A  Picture 
Museum,"  "Publishing  an  Annual,"  "Helping  the  Humane 
Society,"  "A  School  Magazine,"  "A  Cleanliness  Campaign," 
"Raising  Potatoes,"  "Cleaning  a  Vineyard  and  Planting  Trees," 
"Forming  a  Mercantile  Company," 

Conclusions  of  recent  examples. — Such  examples  as  we  have 
given  in  this  section  should  serve  to  give  the  reader  a  concrete 

1  Op.  tit.,  pp.  19-26. 

a  Bloomington,  Illinois:    Public  School  Publishing  Co.,  1921.    $1.30  postpaid. 


THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [January 

notion  of  the  extensive  and  varied  examples  of  project  teaching 
to  be  found  in  American  schools.  In  the  next  section  we  shall 
further  clarify  our  ideas  of  project  teaching  by  examples  showing 
how  provision  for  such  practical  planning  by  pupils  has  developed 
historically. 

III.      HISTORY   OF  RECENT   OPPORTUNITIES   FOR 
PRACTICAL  PLANNING  BY  PUPILS 

A.      GENERAL  DEVELOPMENTS:    THE   "NEW  EDUCATION"   OF   1880-1905 

Slogans  of  the  "new  education";  "self-expression,"  etc. — The 
movement  to  give  pupils  practice  in  practical  planning  is  one 
outcome  of  the  "new  education"  which  was  widely  discussed  in 
America  during  the  last  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century.  The 
principal  slogans  of  this  "new  education"  were  "self-realization," 
" self-expression, "  "education  through  expression,"  "initiative," 
"co-operation,"  etc.  Its  advocates  spoke  and  wrote  of  it  as  the 
"new  education"  on  frequent  occasions.  Thus  as  early  as  1883 
we  find  Colonel  F.  W.  Parker  using  the  term,  while  in  1900  we 
find  Professor  Dewey  referring  to  it  with  capitals  and  quotation 
marks  in  the  following  words: 

It  is  to  this,  then,  that  I  especially  ask  your  attention:  the  effort  to  conceive 
what  roughly  may  be  termed  the  "New  Education"  in  the  light  of  larger 
changes  in  society.  Can  we  connect  this  "New  Education"  with  the  general 

march  of  events  ?    If  we  can,  it  will  lose  its  isolated  character It  will 

appear  as  part  and  parcel  of  the  whole  social  evolution.1 

Froebelian  origin  of  the  "new  education"  Teachers  College, 
Colonel  Parker,  and  Dewey. — There  were  at  least  two  well-defined 
centers  of  this  "new  educational"  practice  and  propaganda. 
One  was  Teachers  College  of  New  York  City,  the  parent  institu- 
tion of  which  was  established  in  1880  and  which  became  affiliated 
with  Columbia  University  in  1898.  The  other  was  the  School 
of  Education  of  the  University  of  Chicago,  which  developed  in 
1901  from  the  combining  of  the  earlier  schools  of  Colonel  Francis 
W.  Parker  and  Professor  John  Dewey.  The  common  source  of 
suggestion  for  the  "new  education"  in  these  schools  seems  to  have 
been  the  productive  theories  (not  the  formalized  practices)  of 

xjohn  Dewey,  The  School  and  Society,  p.  4.  Chicago:  University  of  Chicago 
Press,  1900. 


ig22]  PROJECT  TEACHING  9 

Froebel  (1782-1852)  who  founded  the  kindergarten  movement  in 
Germany  in  I837.1  These  theories  will  be  presented  later  in  a 
quotation  from  Dewey. 

Teachers  College. — The  important  part  played  by  this  Froebelian 
element  in  the  early  activities  of  Teachers  College  is  suggested  by 
a  quotation  from  a  series  of  resolutions  adopted  by  its  board  of 
trustees  in  1886.  The  institution  was  then  known  as  the  Industrial 
Education  Association.  In  setting  forth  their  policy  they  included 
the  following  resolution  relative  to  the  kindergarten : 

That  the  fact  is  generally  recognized  among  those  best  informed  on  the 
subject  of  education,  that  the  kindergarten  system  produces  the  best  results 
with  young  children.  The  Association  claims  that  the  system  which  combines 
industrial  training  with  the  usual  and  necessary  branches  is  nothing  more 
than  a  development  of  the  kindergarten  theory:  a  system  found  wise  for  young 
children,  modified  and  adapted  to  children  of  more  mature  growth.* 

Colonel  Parker. — The  part  played  by  Froebelianism  hi  Colonel 
Parker's  work  is  clearly  indicated  by  the  following  quotation  from 
one  of  his  writings  as  early  as  1883: 

Froebel  said  that  the  principles  he  discovered  and  advocated,  when 
thoroughly  applied,  would  revolutionize  the  world;  and  he  was  right.  In 
the  kindergarten  is  the  seed  corn  and  germination  of  the  New  Education  and 

the  new  life One  and  all  of  the  true  principles  of  education  are  applied 

in  the  kindergarten;  these  principles  should  be  applied  (simply  changing  the 
application  to  adapt  it  to  different  stages  of  growth)  through  all  education.* 

Dewey. — Finally,  the  influence  of  the  Froebelian  theory  in  the 
experimental  elementary  school  maintained  by  Dewey  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago  from  1896  to  1901  is  indicated  in  these  words 
taken  from  his  discussion  of  the  kindergarten  department  of  his 
school: 

One  of  the  traditions  of  the  school  is  of  a  visitor  who,  in  its  early  days, 
called  to  see  the  kindergarten.  On  being  told  that  the  school  had  not  as  yet 

1  For  an  account  of  Froebel's  two  most  valuable  principles,  namely,  (i)  education 
through  motor  expression  and  (2)  education  through  social  participation,  see  S.  C. 
Parker's  History  of  Modern  Elementary  Education,  pp.  441-47  and  470-84.  Boston: 
Ginn  &  Co.,  1912. 

1  Teachers  College  Record,  I  (January,  1900),  14. 

»  Francis  W.  Parker,  Talks  on  Teaching,  p.  159.  New  York:  E.  L.  Kellogg  &  Co., 
1883. 


10  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [January 

established  one,  she  asked  if  there  were  not  singing,  drawing,  manual  training, 
plays  and  dramatizations,  and  attention  to  the  children's  social  relations. 
When  her  questions  were  answered  in  the  affirmative,  she  remarked,  both 
triumphantly  and  indignantly,  that  that  was  what  she  understood  by  a  kinder- 
garten, and  she  did  not  know  what  was  meant  by  saying  that  the  school  had 
no  kindergarten.  The  remark  was  perhaps  justified  in  spirit,  if  not  in  letter. 
At  all  events,  it  suggests  that  in  a  certain  sense  the  school  endeavors  throughout 
its  whole  course — now  including  children  between  four  and  thirteen — to  carry 
into  effect  certain  principles  which  Froebel  was  perhaps  the  first  consciously 
to  set  forth.  Speaking  still  in  general,  these  principles  are : 

1.  That   the  primary  business  of  the  school   is   to   train  children  in 
co-operative  and  mutually  helpful  living 

2.  That  the  primary  root  of  all  educative  activity  is  in  the  instinctive, 
impulsive  attitudes  and  activities  of  the  child,  and  not  in  the  presentation  and 
application  of  external  material 

3.  That  these  individual  tendencies  and   activities  are  organized  and 
directed  through  the  uses  made  of  them  in  keeping  up  the  co-operative  living 
already  spoken  of;    taking  advantage  of  them  to  reproduce  on  the  child's 
plane,  the  typical  doings  and  occupations  of  the  larger,  maturer  society  into 
which  he  is  finally  to  go  forth;  and  that  it  is  through  production  and  creative 
use  that  valuable  knowledge  is  secured  and  clinched. 

So  far  as  these  statements  correctly  represent  Froebel's  educational 
philosophy,  the  school  should  be  regarded  as  its  exponent.1 

Three  movements  from  the  "new  education":  motivation,  problem- 
solving,  and  project  teaching. — Out  of  the  general  enthusiasm  for 
improved  methods  which  characterized  these  discussions  of  the 
"new  education"  of  1900,  there  have  developed  from  time  to  time 
specific  enthusiasms  for  some  special  phase  of  teaching.  For  our 
present  purposes  it  is  instructive  to  note  and  define  three  of  these, 
namely,  motivation,  problem-solving,  and  project  teaching. 

Motivation. — The  central  idea  in  the  recent  discussions  of  moti- 
vation seems  to  be  that  a  pupil  secures  valuable  training  through 
clearly  conceiving  some  interesting  end  toward  which  he  directs 
his  present  activity  and  from  which  the  latter  derives  interest. 
The  writers  on  motivation  have  emphasized  the  desirability  of 
well-defined  pupil-purposes  and  whole-hearted  interests  as  educa- 
tive factors.  Motivation  thus  becomes  one  phase  of  the  doctrine 
of  interest,  and  its  adequate  discussion  would  grow  out  of  the 

1  Elementary  School  Record,  I  (June,  1900),  142.  Published  also  in  the  revised 
edition  of  Dewey's  The  School  and  Society,  p.  in.  Chicago:  University  of  Chicago 
Press,  1915. 


1922}  PROJECT  TEACHING  II 

consideration  of  human  instincts  and  motives  as  found  in  such 
chapters  as  those  by  James  and  Thorndike  on  human  instincts 
and  in  such  books  as  McDougalTs  Social  Psychology. 

Problem-solving, — Training  pupils  in  problem-solving  has  been 
most  adequately  treated  in  its  theoretical  aspects  in  Dewey's 
How  We  Think.1  According  to  Dewey,  problems  originate  in 
"something  unexpected,  queer,  strange,  funny  or  disconcerting" 
(p.  74),  or  in  "some  perplexity,  confusion  or  doubt"  (p.  12).  The 
pupil  has  a  "genuine  problem,"  "in  whatever  perplexes  and 
challenges  the  mind  so  as  to  make  belief  uncertain"  (p.  9).  A 
problem  is  thus  seen  to  be  "a  question  involving  doubt"  (as  defined 
by  Webster),  and  the  specific  discussion  of  training  pupils  in 
problem-solving  would  be  based  on  the  discussions  of  training  in 
reasoning  and  scientific  thinking  provided  by  eminent  psycholo- 
gists. Clearly  the  issues  and  concepts  involved  in  this  discussion 
are  largely  distinct  from  those  of  motivation  or  interests. 

Project  teaching. — On  the  other  hand,  project  teaching,  when 
conceived  as  the  pupil-planning  of  practical  activities,  is  clearly 
a  subdivision  of  the  larger  topic,  problem-solving.  In  project 
teaching,  the  pupil  is  always  confronted  with  some  problem,  but 
a  problem  of  a  practical2  character,  as  distinguished  from  merely 
theoretical  or  speculative  problems.  Thus,  a  practical  project 
problem  in  history  might  be  "How  shall  we  dramatize  the  Life  of 
Washington  and  his  troops  at  Valley  Forge?"  while  a  theoretical 
problem  would  be  "Who  was  the  greater  general,  Washington  or 
Frederick  the  Great?"  In  another  connection,  I  have  given  a 
full  discussion  of  problem-solving  in  general  with  examples  of  both 
theoretical  and  practical  problems  being  solved  by  pupils.3  Our 
further  discussion  of  practical  project  problems  in  the  next  article 
will  supplement  that  discussion  and  show  the  development  of 
project  methods  in  manual  training,  assembly  exercises,  the  kinder- 
garten, geography,  history,  and  agriculture. 

1  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.,  1910. 

»  See  definitions  of  practical  and  theoretical  on  page  i. 

J  Elementary  School  Journal,  XXI  (September-December,  1920).  See  also  the 
author's  Types  of  Elementary  Teaching,  chapters.  Boston:  Ginn  &  Co.  (in  press). 


12  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [February 


ARTICLE  II 
m.      HISTORY  OF  RECENT  OPPORTUNITIES  FOR  PRACTICAL  PLANNING 

BY  PUPILS — Continued 

B.      DEVELOPMENT  OF  PROJECT  TEACHING  IN  SPECIAL  APPLICATIONS 

Manual  training.  Early  sloyd  system  of  imitative  practical 
exercises. — Perhaps  the  first  school  subject  to  be  extensively  modi- 
fied in  actual  practice  by  the  "new  education"  of  1900  (which  we 
described  in  the  preceding  article)  was  manual  training.  In  the 
earlier  development  of  this  subject  in  this  country,  the  exercises  in 
woodwork  had  frequently  been  patterned  after  those  of  the  Swedish 
sloyd,  a  system  which  originated  about  1875.  It  was  introduced 
into  Boston  about  1886  and  was  soon  widely  adopted  in  American 
manual-training  schools.  Among  the  articles  made  by  pupils  in 
this  system  were  such  practical  things  as  a  blackboard  pointer,  a 
penholder,  a  chopping  board,  a  flowerpot  stand,  a  hatchet  handle, 
a  tool  rack,  a  book  stand,  etc.  These  articles  were  made  in  regular 
order  by  each  pupil  largely  in  imitation  of  the  demonstrations  by 
the  instructor.  I  had  the  good  fortune,  as  a  high-school  boy,  to 
enjoy  two  years  (1894-96)  of  such  formal  carpentering,  two  hours 
a  day,  in  a  manual-training  school  in  Cincinnati.  I  made  certain 
practical  articles  which  are  still  in  daily  use  in  my  boyhood  home. 
During  this  practice  I  developed  skills  which  have  frequently 
proved  useful  in  later  life. 

Project-planning  advocated  about  ipoo. — There  was,  however, 
very  little  of  the  element  of  original  planning  by  the  pupils  in  the 
system  of  Swedish  sloyd  practical  exercises.  On  this  account,  the 


Note  on  the  "new  education." — Further  light  on  the  Froebelian  element  in  the 
"new  education"  is  shed  by  the  statement  that  W.  N.  Hailman,  a  noted  Froebelian, 
conducted  a  magazine,  entitled  the  New  Education,  in  Milwaukee,  for  six  years 
beginning  in  1876.  Its  editor  said  that  Froebel  and  Herbert  Spencer  were  the  prin- 
cipal exponents  of  the  "new  education,"  and  that  the  journal  was  established  to  aid 
in  the  propagation  of  the  views  of  Froebel  and  Spencer,  particularly  of  the  former. 
For  further  details  see  N.  C.  Vandewalker,  The  Kindergarten  in  American  Education. 
New  York:  Macmillan  Co.,  1908.  Pp.  32-33. 


PROJECT  TEACHING  13 

exercises  began  to  be  strongly  condemned  by  various  leaders  of  the 
"new  education"  about  1900. 

Dewey  on  the  " psychology  of  occupations." — Probably  the  most 
significant  theoretical  expression  of  the  views  on  which  the  criti- 
cisms of  the  sloyd  were  based  was  Dewey's  article  entitled  "The 
Psychology  of  Occupations,"  in  which  he  defines  an  occupation  as 
"a  mode  of  activity  on  the  part  of  the  child  which  reproduces,  or 
runs  parallel  to,  some  form  of  work  carried  on  in  social  life."  In 
speaking  of  the  methods  to  be  used  in  teaching  occupations,  he  says: 

It  is  possible  to  carry  on  this  type  of  work  ....  so  that  the  entire 

emphasis  falls  upon  the  manual  or  physical  side This  is  the  inevitable 

tendency  wherever,  in  manual  training  for  instance,  the  mastery  of  certain 
tools,  or  the  production  of  certain  objects,  is  made  the  primary  end,  and  the 
child  is  not  given,  wherever  possible,  intellectual  responsibility  for  selecting 
the  materials  and  instruments  that  are  most  fit,  and  given  an  opportunity 
to  think  out  his  own  model  and  plan  of  work,  led  to  perceive  his  own  errors, 
and  find  out  how  to  correct  them — that  is,  of  course,  within  the  range  of  his 
capacities.1 

In  the  further  discussion  Dewey  emphasizes  the  desirability 
of  more  "personal  experimenting,  planning,  and  re-inventing" 
in  pupils'  manual  activities. 

Colonel  Parker  opposed  "logical  sequence." — Similar  views  were 
debated  in  the  meetings  of  the  manual-training  teachers  as 
reported  in  the  early  volumes  of  the  Manual  Training  Magazine 
(1901-3).  Colonel  Parker  was  frequently  a  vigorous  speaker  at 
these  meetings  and  advocated  a  change  from  the  "logical  sequence" 
of  the  sloyd  exercises  to  activities  involving  more  original  thought 
by  the  pupils. 

C.  R.  Richards  on  pupil-planning. — One  of  the  most  effective 
pleaders  for  more  pupil-planning  in  manual  training  was  Professor 
C.  R.  Richards,  whose  strategic  position  as  head  of  the  department 
of  manual  training  at  Teachers  College,  Columbia  University, 
gave  him  wide  influence.  Richards  talked  fluently  the  language 
of  the  "new  education,"  especially  emphasizing  "self-realization" 
and  "education  through  expression."  He  used  the  term  "project" 

1  Elementary  School  Record,  I  (April,  1900),  83.  Reprinted  in  The  School  and 
Society,  p.  132.  Chicago:  University  of  Chicago  Press,  1915  (revised). 


14  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [February 

occasionally  in  his  early  papers  to  designate  the  pupil's  exercises, 
and  in  his  later  papers  (particularly  in  the  Teachers  College  Record) 
he  used  it  predominantly.  His  ideas  concerning  the  place  of  pupil- 
initiative  and  pupil-planning  are  brought  out  in  the  following 
quotation  from  an  article  in  the  Manual  Training  Magazine: 

To  bring  the  element  of  self-expression  into  handwork  does  not  mean  that 
we  are  to  turn  the  pupil  loose  to  exercise  whim  and  fancy  unrestrained.  In 
handwork,  no  more  than  in  any  other  form  of  school  work,  should  the  pupil 

be  free  from  suggestion  and  guidance  by  the  teacher Self-expression 

does  not  mean  that  the  pupil  is  expected  to  develop  the  entire  plan  and  design 
for  each  thing  done.  This  would  be  too  much  to  expect  from  the  unformed 
standards  of  judgments  of  young  children,  and  could  result  only  in  crude 
projects  and  unsatisfactory  work.  But  recognition  of  this  element  may  mean 
that  the  general  plan  to  attain  an  end  will  be  developed  from  the  pupils.  It 
may  mean  the  adjusting  and  modifying  of  details  within  this  general  plan  by 
the  individual  pupil;  and  it  may  mean  the  working  out  of  ways  and  means  to 
achieve  this  plan.  It  may  mean  these  or  many  other  things,  but  it  should 
always  mean  that  the  worker's  own  thought  and  feeling  are  contributing  in  a 
real  fashion  to  the  end  for  which  he  is  working.1 

From  sloyd  to  projects  and  then  a  compromise. — The  change  from 
the  systematic  formal  exercises  of  the  Swedish  sloyd  to  project 
exercises  in  which  pupils  did  considerable  original  planning  had 
taken  place  in  a  number  of  woodworking  courses  throughout  the 
country  by  1910.  For  example,  about  that  time  a  teacher  of 
manual  training  in  a  large  city  said  to  me, 

We  have  considerable  project  work  now.  Thus,  if  a  boy  says  he  wants 
to  make  a  coaster  wagon,  we  tell  him  he  may  do  so  if  he  can  show  us  suitable 
plans.  However,  the  difficulty  is  that  soon  all  of  the  boys  are  making  coasters 
just  like  the  first  one,  and  it  becomes  purely  imitative  work  just  as  in  the 
formal  exercises. 

Many  experienced  observers  of  these  reformed  project  courses 
felt  that  less  tool  skill  was  acquired  than  in  the  more  systematic 
courses.  Consequently,  there  was  a  reaction  and  a  tendency 
developed  to  provide  for  both  systematic  tool  practice  and  project- 
planning  in  certain  institutions. 

Kindergarten.  From  formal  constructions  to  pupil-planning  and 
experimenting. — Closely  related  to  the  change  in  manual  training 
under  the  influence  of  general  Froebelian  principles  is  the  change  in 

*C.  R.  Richards,  "Handwork  in  the  Primary  School,"  Manual  Training  Maga- 
zine, III  (October,  1901),  3. 


1922}  PROJECT  TEACHING  15 

kindergartens  from  highly  systematized  formal  constructions  to 
activities  in  which  pupil-planning  plays  a  much  larger  part.  Dewey's 
influence  was  a  large  factor  in  bringing  about  this  change.  His 
conception  of  the  need  for  it  and  of  its  harmony  with  Froebel's 
principles  is  expressed  in  the  following  paragraph  which  continues 
the  quotation  concerning  Froebel's  principles  in  Dewey's  Chicago 
school  given  in  the  preceding  article: 

This  attempt,  however,  to  assume  what  might  be  called  the  kindergarten 
attitude  throughout  the  whole  school  makes  necessary  certain  modifications 
of  the  work  done  in  what  is  more  technically  known  as  the  kindergarten 
period — that  is,  with  the  children  between  the  ages  of  four  and  six.  It  is 
necessary  only  to  state  reasons  for  believing  that  in  spite  of  the  apparently 
radical  character  of  some  of  them  they  are  true  to  the  spirit  of  Froebel.1 

The  nature  of  the  reformed  kindergarten  practice  which  Dewey 
helped  to  bring  about  is  well  illustrated  in  the  following  quotation 
from  the  1917  course  of  study  of  the  University  of  Chicago  Elemen- 
tary School. 

A  means  of  organization  is  through  objective  projects,  resulting  in  tangible, 
relatively  permanent  play  centers.  These  are  the  house  itself  with  its  kitchen 
as  the  central  feature,  the  grocery  store,  and  the  garden  or  farm. 

When  the  children  first  come  to  school,  they  find,  among  other  attractive 
things,  such  toys  as  dolls,  some  doll  furniture,  kitchen  utensils,  and  dishes. 
They  play  with  these  freely,  as  they  do  also  with  blocks,  sand,  and  clay.  The 
teacher  may  easily  lead  this  play  in  the  direction  of  cooking  and  serving  plays. 
There  soon  begins  to  take  form  in  one  corner  of  the  room,  therefore,  a  miniature 
kitchen  or  dining-room.  The  teacher  then  produces  a  screen  house  with  a 
door  and  windows,  which  serves  to  inclose  this  little  room,  which  may  now 
stay  in  place  as  long  as  it  is  wanted. 

This  playhouse  now  becomes  the  center  of  great  interest  and  activity. 
Clay  utensils  and  dishes  are  made,  a  cupboard  to  hold  them  is  built  of  blocks, 
paper  is  cut  for  the  shelves,  paper  doilies  are  cut  and  fringed,  napkins  are 
folded,  and  a  meal  is  planned.  A  trip  to  the  grocery  is  necessary  to  buy  a 
cereal,  which  is  then  cooked  and  served  by  the  children.  This  trip  to  the  store 
suggests  the  building  of  a  grocery  store  in  the  classroom.  This  now  becomes 
the  second  problem  or  project.  It  calls  for  much  planning  and  experimenting 
and  results  very  naturally  in  group  work,  since  the  final  product  is  a  structure 
made  of  blocks  and  boards  which  is  large  enough  for  three  or  four  children  to 
play  in  at  the  same  time.  Another  excursion  is  needed  to  get  suggestions  as 
to  how  to  make  shelves,  the  counter,  and  show  windows,  and  to  learn  what  a 

1  Elementary  School  Record,  I  (June,  1900),  144.  The  School  and  Society,  p.  112. 
Chicago:  University  of  Chicago  Press,  1915  (revised). 


16  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [February 

grocery  store  really  carries  for  sale.  Numerous  lesser  problems  present  them- 
selves for  the  children's  solving:  vegetables  and  fruits  of  clay  must  be  shaped 
and  colored  accurately  enough  to  be  readily  recognized,  and  baskets  made  to 
hold  them;  paper  bags  must  be  contrived;  pictures  must  be  made  to  show 
what  canned  goods  are  in  stock;  pocketbooks  and  money  for  the  buyers  must 
be  provided  and  delivery  wagons  constructed.  These  are  not  made  from 
patterns  or  models,  but  are  worked  out  by  the  children  and  the  results  tested 
by  actual  use  in  playing  in  the  grocery  store.  The  teacher  aims  so  to  direct 
the  handwork  that  the  children  will  grow  steadily  in  their  power  to  solve  simple 
problems  and  handle  material  skilfully. 

The  third  project,  the  farm  or  garden,  is  subordinate  to  the  other  two, 
partly  because  it  is  less  familiar,  partly  because  it  is  taken  up  again  in  the  first 
grade.  The  oldest  children  sometimes  make  a  miniature  farm  in  the  sand 
table,  showing  the  grain  fields,  vegetable  garden,  orchard,  and  the  main 
buildings  and  animal  inclosures  and  shelters.1 

A  notable  series  of  papers  which  express  further  the  change  in 
kindergartens  from  formal  imitative  exercises  to  projects  permitting 
of  greater  pupil-planning  was  published  in  the  Teachers  College 
Record  for  January,  1914  (Vol.  XV),  under  the  editorship  of  Miss 
Patty  Hill,  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  progressive  reform  movements 
among  American  kindergartners. 

Assembly  programs. — A  third  phase  of  school  work  in  which 
we  early  find  project-planning  by  the  pupils  being  introduced  is 
in  assembly  programs.  As  occasions  for  formal  recitations  and 
singing,  such  programs  have  been  common  from  early  times.  The 
change  to  pupil-project  programs,  however,  in  which  the  pupils 
plan  and  devise  the  program  and  its  activities,  represents  a  radical 
addition  to  the  training  provided  by  such  occasions.  One  of  the 
most  highly  developed  centers  for  such  training  was  the  school  of 
Colonel  Parker;  and,  today,  probably  the  best  account  of  such 
practice  is  found  in  the  Second  Yearbook  (1913)  of  the  Francis  W. 
Parker  School.2 

Construction  and  dramatization  in  history  and  geography. — The 
assembly  programs  which  the  pupils  devised  frequently  contained 
the  presentation  before  the  audience  of  some  construction  project 
from  history  or  geography  as  illustrated  in  the  pictures  in  the 
preceding  article.  Often  the  program  included  the  dramatization 

1  Elementary  School  Journal,  XVII  (February,  1917),  401-2. 
'Chicago:   Francis  W.  Parker  School,  330  Webster  Avenue.    $0.45. 


1022}  PROJECT  TEACHING  17 

of  some  phase  of  history  or  literature  as  illustrated  in  the  examples 
described  in  Section  II  of  the  first  article.  Similar  projects  fre- 
quently furnished  centers  for  much  classroom  work  in  the  social 
studies  as  illustrated  in  the  kindergarten  example  given  above. 

Civic  campaigns. — With  the  appearance  of  Dunn's  TheCommunity 
and  the  Citizen*  in  1909,  the  attention  of  many  teachers  of  civics 
was  called  to  the  possibility  of  active,  practical  pupil-undertakings 
in  the  civic  life  of  the  school  or  the  local  community.  Hence, 
"  clean-up  "  campaigns  and  other  useful  drives  began  to  be  frequently 
planned  and  carried  out  by  pupils  under  skilled  teacher-direction. 

Summary  of  special  developments  to  this  point. — Reviewing  the 
special  examples  that  we  have  given  to  illustrate  the  historical 
development  of  project  methods,  we  see  (i)  that  as  early  as  1900 
there  was  a  clear-cut  agitation  for  the  introduction  of  more  practical 
planning  by  pupils  in  manual  training  and  that  the  term  "project" 
was  early  used  by  Richards  to  designate  pupil-exercises  in  this 
subject;  (2)  that  a  revision  of  kindergarten  practices  along  similar 
lines  was  agitated  about  the  same  time  and  was  gradually  effected 
in  certain  progressive  schools;  (3)  that  assembly  programs  (par- 
ticularly in  Colonel  Parker's  schools)  early  furnished  practical 
occasions  for  pupil-planning;  (4)  that  construction  and  dramatiza- 
tion projects  soon  appeared  in  history  and  geography;  (5)  and  that 
Dunn's  work  in  civics  (1909)  tended  to  introduce  some  project 
methods  in  that  subject.  It  would  be  possible  to  determine  the 
origin  of  similar  influential  starting-points  for  project  teaching 
in  science,  English  composition,  and  other  subjects.  Sufficient 
has  been  given,  however,  to  illustrate  the  historical  development 
of  project  methods  in  particular  subjects.  Hence,  we  shall  give 
only  one  further  example,  namely,  the  development  of  project 
methods  in  high-school  agriculture,  a  subject  in  which  project 
teaching  has  secured  a  somewhat  precise  legal  meaning  through  the 
influence  of  the  Smith-Hughes  law  for  aiding  vocational  education 
and  its  interpretation  by  the  Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Education. 

Home  projects  in  agriculture.  Illustrates  our  definitions. — The 
description  of  project  teaching  in  agriculture  will  illustrate  very 

1  A.  W.  Dunn,  The  Community  and  the  Citizen.  Boston:  D.  C.  Heath  &  Co.,  1009. 
Pp.  x+266. 


1 8  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [February 

well  some  of  the  points  of  definition  with  which  we  opened  our 
articles,  namely,  (i)  that,  according  to  the  dictionary,  "a  project 
is  something  of  a  practical  nature  thrown  out  for  the  consideration 
of  its  being  done"  and  that  "to  project"  means  "to  contrive,  to 
devise,  to  scheme";  (2)  that  a  pupil-project  is  a  unit  of  practical 
activity  planned  by  the  pupils  (or  pupil) ;  and  (3)  that  a  pupil- 
project  gives  the  pupils  practice  in  practical  planning  and  makes 
them  responsible  for  devising  ways  and  means  and  selecting  and 
rejecting  methods  of  achieving  some  definite  practical  end. 

Transfer  from  technical  social  life  to  school  described  by  the 
Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Education. — Furthermore,  our  descrip- 
tion of  project  teaching  in  agriculture  will  show  how  the  idea  of 
projecting  a  practical  plan  was  gradually  taken  over  from  the 
general  social  situation  (where  the  term  project  was  used  with  its 
ordinary  dictionary  connotation)  into  the  supervised  practical  work 
in  agriculture  in  high  schools,  where  it  retains  a  meaning  very 
similar  to  its  use  in  general  practical  affairs.  These  facts  come 
out  clearly  in  the  following  quotation  from  the  pamphlet  on  "The 
Home  Project  as  a  Phase  of  Vocational  Agricultural  Education" 
issued  in  September,  1918.  by  the  Federal  Board  for  Vocational 
Education: 

For  many  years  the  term  "project"  has  been  used  [among  scientific  workers 
of  the  Department  of  Agriculture]  to  designate  carefully  planned  investigations 
in  agricultural  science  covering  a  considerable  period  of  time,  frequently 
demanding  several  years  for  their  completion.  Such  plans,  including  aims 
and  methods,  have  been  submitted  by  the  agricultural  experiment  stations 
of  the  several  states  and  approved  by  the  Office  of  Experiment  Stations  in  the 
States  Relations  Service  of  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture. 

More  recently  the  term  "project"  under  practically  the  same  conditions 
has  been  applied  to  the  projects  in  demonstration  work  and  extension  teaching 
carried  out  under  the  Smith-Lever  Act.  The  term  carries  with  it  the  idea  of 
a  program  of  importance,  of  some  duration,  and  an  expectation  of  certain 
tangible  and  valuable  results. 

In  connection  with  the  teaching  of  agriculture  in  secondary  schools  the 
idea  of  projects  at  home1  crystallized  and  took  on  the  name  of  "home 

1  Examples  of  home  projects  are  the  following:  growing  an  acre  of  corn,  or  cotton, 
or  some  other  crop;  raising  chickens,  or  cows,  or  other  animals;  improving  the  dairy 
barn  or  other  farm  buildings;  keeping  records  of  a  dairy  herd  to  improve  it,  etc.  The 
Federal  Board  says,  "Encourage  the  student  to  choose  a  sufficiently  ambitious  project. 
If  he  is  in  earnest,  he  will  prefer  a  man-sized  task  to  a  childish  or  miniature  project. 
A  high-school  boy  knows  he  is  not  doing  much  farming  if  he  is  caring  for  one  pig  or 
rearing  six  chicks  or  managing  a  very  small  garden"  [p.  n|. 


1922]  PROJECT  TEACHING  19 

project"  about  1908  in  Massachusetts,  receiving  the  sanction  of  the  State 
Board  of  Education  under  suitable  legislation  in  191 1 .  This  plan,  with  modifi- 
cations which  do  not  change  the  principal  points  of  the  definition,  had  been 
adopted  in  most  of  the  states  which  had  constructive  legislation  on  agriculture 
in  the  secondary  schools  previous  to  the  enactment  of  the  Smith-Hughes  Act. 
In  its  work  on  secondary  and  elementary  school  agriculture,  the  United  States 
Department  of  Agriculture  had  previously  accepted  the  prevailing  conception 
of  the  home  project,  issuing  several  publications  on  this  basis. 

Since  the  Federal  Board  for  Vocational  Education  intends  to  develop  and 
extend  this  plan,  it  seems  undesirable  that  the  term  "home  project"  should 
be  applied  to  less  important  exercises. 

It  is  desirable  also  that  the  term  "class  project"  shall  be  applied  only 
to  rather  ambitious,  well-planned  lines  of  work  for  which  we  might  use  the 
term  "home  project"  if  they  were  located  at  home.1 

Rules  for  administering  home  projects. — The  bulletin  from  which 
this  quotation  is  taken  outlines  in  detail  the  conditions  under 
which  "home  projects"  must  be  conducted  in  order  to  be  approved. 
A  summary  view  of  these  conditions  is  given  in  the  following  quo- 
tation: 

THE   ESSENTIALS   OF   A  HOME   PROJECT 

1.  A  carefully  drawn  plan  covering  a  considerable  extent  of  time,  with  a 
definite  aim,  including  some  problems2  new  to  the  pupil  and  outlining  with 
sufficient  detail  the  methods  to  be  employed.    This  plar  should  be  written  and 
should  be  an  exhibit  in  connection  with  the  second  essential. 

2.  An  agreement  between  parent,  pupil  and  teacher,  based  upon  the  plan 
already  prepared  and  so  prepared  as  to  eliminate  later  disagreements.     The 
boy's  financial  privileges  should  be  clearly  stated. 

3.  Instruction  hi  the  school  both  in  regular  course  and  in  special  individual 
study  to  the  end  that  the  project  work  may  be  done  intelligently  and  that  the 
home  may  furnish  the  kind  of  laboratory  practice  best  adapted  to  the  school 
work. 

4.  Detailed  records  of  method,  time,  cost,  income,  and  other  important 
factors  which  shall  finally  be  summarized  in — 

1  "The  Home  Project  as  a  Phase  of  Vocational  Agricultural  Education,"  pp.  7-8. 
Agricultural  Series  No.  j,  Bulletin  21.    Washington:    Federal  Board  for  Vocational 
Education,  1918. 

2  The  problems  which  a  student  confronts  in  doing  his  planning  are  illustrated 
by  the  following  from  a  poultry  project:    "i.  Shall  I  purchase  pure-bred  fowls  or 
must  I  take  over  the  farm  flock  as  a  basis  for  improvement?     2.  Shall  I  aim  at  pro- 
ducing eggs  for  market,  meat  for  market,  breeding  stock  and  eggs,  or  some  other 
end  ?    3.  Shall  I  be  obliged  to  construct  new  houses,  to  renovate  and  remodel  old 
houses,  or  may  I  use  good  houses  now  on  the  farm  ?    4.  Shall  I  plan  to  grow  poultry 
feed  as  a  correlated  plant  project?"  [p.  ii). 


20  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [February 

5.  A  report  including  both  a  story  and  a  complete  accounting  for  the  entire 
project  period. 

6.  Supervision  by  a  competent  instructor  of  such  a  nature  as  to  help  the 
student  to  succeed  in  his  project,  to  encourage  him  at  times  when  difficulties 
arise  and  to  hold  him  to  his  agreement;   incidentally  to  impart  instruction 
supplementing  that  of  the  classroom. 

The  supervisor  should  demand  records  of  the  student  and  should  in  turn 
make  reports  to  his  supervising  officer.1 

Conclusion  of  historical  view. — The  examples  which  we  have 
presented  of  the  introduction  of  project  teaching  in  manual  training, 
the  kindergarten,  assembly  programs,  history,  geography,  civics, 
and  agriculture  illustrate  how  the  movement  has  affected  actual 
school  practice  from  1900  to  the  present.  They  show  how  the 
"new  education"  which  was  stimulated  by  the  broader  Froebelian 
teaching  and  which  was  propagated  by  Teachers  College,  Colonel 
Parker,  and  Professor  Dewey,  has  gradually  secured  vigorous 
recognition  in  the  actual  project  practice  in  many  American 
schools. 

IV.      VALUES     OF     PRACTICE     IN    PLANNING    PRACTICAL    ACTIVITIES 

Develops  skill  in  practical  planning. — The  most  obvious  values 
of  such  project  teaching  as  we  have  described  are  clearly  implied 
in  the  fact  that  skill  in  the  planning  of  practical  activities  is  very 
necessary  and  useful  in  the  world  at  large.  Successful  inventors, 
designers,  architects,  engineers,  organizers,  managing  editors, 
dramatic  producers,  practical  promoters,  executives,  farmers, 
housekeepers,  etc.,  all  have  to  have  skill  in  planning  practical 
activities.  Project  teaching  anticipates  this  need  by  giving  pupils 
practice  in  such  practical  planning  in  the  ordinary  school,  instead 
of  leaving  it  all  to  the  "hard  school  of  practical  experience"  after 
graduation. 

Appeals  to  practical  and  executive  instincts. — In  addition  to  the 
obvious  direct  educational  value  of  such  practice  in  practical 
planning,  project  teaching  has  the  additional  value  of  securing  the 
pupils'  attention  through  appeals  to  certain  practical  and  executive 
instinctive  interests,  such  as  the  instinctive  interests  in  construction, 
problem-solving,  communication,  the  management  of  people,  etc. 

1  Ibid.,  p.  9. 


1022]  PROJECT  TEACHING  21 

Such  appeals,  however,  are  not  peculiar  to  project  teaching  since 
many  other  types  of  school  activities  may  appeal  to  these  same 
interests. 

V.      LIMITED   SPHERE   OF  PROJECT  TEACHING 

Not  the  sole  type  of  valuable  activity  and  learning. — As  we  have 
defined  project  teaching,  it  is  only  one  type  of  procedure  needed 
in  pupil  training,  not  the  sole  type.  There  is  much  valuable 
activity  and  learning  in  social  life  (including  the  school)  that  does 
not  consist  of  planning  practical  activities.  In  fact,  a  large  part 
of  the  work  and  learning  of  artisans,  clerks,  bookkeepers,  librarians, 
teachers,  farmers,  housekeepers,  even  executives  and  scientists, 
consists  in  the  routine  juggling  of  mental  and  material  products. 
Hence  we  have  a  large  place  in  the  school  for  the  learning  of  organ- 
ized facts  from  textbooks  and  for  drill  in  acquiring  routine  skills. 
It  is  quite  significant  that  while  the  enthusiasm  for  project  teaching 
is  sweeping  the  country,  at  the  same  time  the  scientific  investigators 
of  methods  of  teaching  reading,  spelling,  handwriting,  and  arithme- 
tic are  placing  special  emphasis  upon  the  scientific  diagnosis  of 
each  pupil's  needs  in  each  skill  and  the  prescription  by  the  teacher 
of  specific  practice  exercises  suited  to  each  pupil's  peculiar  needs 
and  deficiencies. 

One  of  the  social  objectives  and  one  of  the  modes  of  learning. — By 
conceiving  project  teaching  as  the  planning  by  pupils  of  practical 
activities,  we  thus  avoid  the  danger  of  overemphasizing  it  to  the 
exclusion  of  other  social  objectives  and  other  modes  of  learning. 
Skill  in  planning  practical  activities  thus  becomes  one  among  many 
co-ordinate  objectives  of  the  school;  and  practice  in  such  planning 
becomes  one  among  several  forms  of  learning. 

VI.      TECHNIQUE   IN  PROJECT  TEACHING 

Teacher  needs  wide  knowledge,  executive  ability,  and  skill  in 
directing  problem-solving. — The  successful  direction  of  the  practical 
planning  of  pupils  calls  for  greater  knowledge  and  skill  on  the  part 
of  the  teacher  than  most  other  forms  of  teaching,  (i)  The  wide 
knowledge  needed  is  illustrated  by  some  absurd  mistakes  in  matters 
of  scientific  and  historical  fact  which  I  have  observed  in  the  project 
teaching  of  even  highly  skilled,  experienced  teachers.  These 


22  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [February 

mistakes  arose  from  the  fact  that  the  solution  of  the  practical 
project  problems  with  which  the  pupils  were  concerned  carried 
the  class  into  scientific  and  historical  fields  where  the  teacher  was 
not  well  informed.  (2)  In  managing  group  projects,  the  teacher 
commonly  needs  skill  in  organizing  and  directing  subdivided  labor. 
She  needs  to  be  able  to  direct  the  organization  of  committees  and 
to  keep  track  of  the  varied  activities  of  individuals  who  have  been 
assigned  special  phases  of  the  project.  Thus,  project  teaching 
requires  greater  executive  ability  in  the  teacher  than  textbook  recita- 
tions or  routinized  drill.  (3)  Finally,  the  teacher  needs  skill  in 
guiding  pupils  in  problematic  thinking.  Such  skill  is  discussed  at 
length  in  the  chapter  on  "Problem  Solving"  in  the  author's 
Types  of  Elementary  Teaching.1  As  brought  out  there,  we  find 
that  the  successful  direction  of  problem-solving  involves  on  the 
part  of  the  teacher  skill  in  getting  the  pupils  to  do  each  of  the 
following:  (i)  To  define  the  problem  clearly;  (2)  To  keep  the 
problem  hi  mind;  (3)  To  make  a  variety  of  suggestions;  (4)  To 
criticize  and  evaluate  each  suggestion;  (5)  To  organize  the  think- 
ing systematically  and  to  summarize  from  time  to  time  its  net  out- 
comes. 

VII.      CONCLUSIONS 

Regrettable  absence  of  precise  knowledge  concerning  practical 
planning. — It  is  to  be  regretted  that  we  cannot  give  a  more  precise 
scientific  discussion  of  giving  pupils  practice  in  practical  planning 
than  we  have  done.  Unfortunately,  we  have  little  quantitative 
evidence  to  indicate  how  large  a  part  practical  planning  plays  in 
the  lives  of  typical  individuals  as  contrasted  with  the  part  played 
by  the  routine  juggling  of  mental  and  material  products  or  with 
mere  leisurely  rumination  and  enjoyment.  Furthermore,  we  have 
little  quantitative  evidence  to  indicate  the  possibilities  of  improving 
pupils  of  various  mental  endowments  in  their  ability  to  carry  on 
practical  planning;  the  best  devices  to  use;  and  the  cost  and  value 
to  society  of  the  improvements  effected.  About  all  we  know  is 
that  practical  planning  or  projecting  does  play  an  important  part 
in  the  world's  activities  and  that  some  schools  are  giving  pupils 
practice  in  it  along  the  lines  described. 

1  Boston:  Ginn  &  Co.  (in  press). 


1022}  PROJECT  TEACHING  23 

Contrast  precise  objective  investigations  in  handwriting,  etc. — In 
contrast  with  this  confused  condition  we  may  note  the  illuminating 
progress  that  has  been  made  by  mathematically  precise  investiga- 
tions of  the  social  objectives  and  of  the  best  methods  in  teaching 
handwriting,  spelling,  and  beginning  reading.  Here  the  "newer 
education"  of  1910-20,  using  exact  statistical  and  experimental 
methods,  has  determined,  for  example,  that  quality  60  on  the  Ayres 
handwriting  scale  is  all  that  is  needed  for  ordinary  business  pur- 
poses; that  in  much  skilled  handwriting  the  letters  are  formed 
predominantly  with  the  fingers;  that  some  3,000  common  words 
are  all  a  pupil  needs  to  know  how  to  spell  for  ordinary  social  pur- 
poses; that  fifteen  minutes  a  day  of  specific  snappy  drill  is  all  that 
is  needed  in  either  handwriting  or  spelling  in  order  to  attain  these 
objectives;  that  pupils  who  have  not  had  good  specific  training 
hi  phonetics  are  likely  to  be  inferior  in  accurate  reading;  and  dozens 
of  other  reliable  conclusions,  such  as  are  summarized  in  the  Eight- 
eenth Yearbook  of  the  National  Society  for  the  Study  of  Education, 
Part  II.1 

Problems  needing  investigation:  social  frequency,  mental  abilities, 
cost,  etc. — Obviously,  similar  precise  knowledge  should  be  obtained 
concerning  the  social  needs  and  standards  and  the  best  methods  for 
giving  pupils  practice  in  practical  planning.  Such  knowledge 
can  come  only  from  precise  statistical  and  laboratory  studies 
which  would  reveal  such  items  as  the  following: 

1.  What  persons  in  various  occupations  are  primarily  routine 
workers  and  what  ones  are  primarily  responsible  for  practical 
planning  ?    Many  subordinate  problems  come  under  this,  such  as 
the  amount  of  routine  work  required  of  the  thoughtful  manager 
of  enterprises;    the  number  of  occasions  for  practical  planning 
that  occur  in  the  work  of  the  routine  bill  clerk,  sales  clerk,  lathe 
operator,  etc. 

2.  What  degrees  of  skill  in  practical  planning  can  be  acquired 
by  persons  of  various  degrees  of  mental  ability  (imbeciles,  morons, 
and  backward,  average,  and  superior  persons)  from  various  amounts 

1  "Fourth  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Economy  of  Time  in  Education,"  Eight- 
eenth Yearbook  of  the  National  Society  for  the  Study  of  Education,  Part  II.  Blooming- 
ton,  Illinois:  Public  School  Publishing  Co.,  1919. 


24  THE  ELEMENTARY  SCHOOL  JOURNAL  [February 

of  instruction  ?  For  example,  Goddard  states  that  a  certain  grade 
of  feeble-minded  person  can  learn  to  use  machinery  and  care  for 
animals  but  cannot  plan. 

3.  What  are  the  specific  elements  of  skill  in  practical  planning 
and  how  can  these  elements  of  skill  be  best  practiced  ? 

4.  How  can  we  measure  the  initial  ability  of  each  pupil  in 
practical  planning   (i.e.,  before  instruction)  and  the  amount  of 
improvement  effected  by  the  practice  provided? 

5.  What  is  the  cost  to  society  of  the  improvements  achieved 
with  each  grade  of  mental  ability  and  the  consequent  desirability 
of  continuing  or  discontinuing  the  training? 

6.  How  much  technical  knowledge  and  skill  should  be  given 
pupils  before  they  are  given  practice  in  practical  planning  in  each 
particular  subject  or  vocation?    Here,   for   example,   profitable 
investigations  could  be  conducted  in  successful  schools  for  training 
architects,  since  the  work  of  the  latter  involves  so  much  planning 
and  designing  and  also  so  much  technical  skill  and  precise  technical 
information. 

Inspiration  from  a  great  city  planner. — It  is  likely  that  while  the 
results  of  such  investigations  would  lead  to  some  skepticism  con- 
cerning the  value  of  practice  in  practical  planning  for  students 
of  low  intellectual  endowment,  they  would  also  greatly  enhance 
our  estimation  of  the  value  of  such  practice  and  training  in  the  case 
of  students  possessing  considerable  natural  talent  for  the  original 
designing  of  practical  enterprises.  For  the  latter,  we  may  well 
set  up  such  educational  objectives  as  we  see  realized  in  the  achieve- 
ments of  great  practical  planners  like  Daniel  Hudson  Burnham, 
architect  and  planner  of  cities,  who  dominated  the  plans  for  the 
Chicago  World's  Fair,  designed  the  first  skyscraper  of  Chicago,  the 
Flatiron  Building  of  New  York,  and  the  famous  city  plans  of  many 
great  cities,  including  the  ambitious  and  beautiful  project  for  the 
city  plan  of  Chicago. 

In  Burnham's  own  words,  we  may  find  the  large  social  value 
of  skilled  planning  suggested  in  the  following  quotation  of  his 
motto  for  city  planners: 

Make  no  little  plans;  they  have  no  magic  to  stir  men's  blood  and  probably 
themselves  will  not  be  realized.  Make  big  plans;  aim  high  in  hope  and  work, 


1022]  PROJECT  TEACHING  .  25 

remembering  that  a  noble,  logical  diagram  once  recorded  will  never  die,  but 
long  after  we  are  gone  will  be  a  living  thing,  asserting  itself  with  ever-growing 
insistency.  Remember  that  our  sons  and  grandsons  are  going  to  do  things 
that  would  stagger  us.  Let  your  watchword  be  order  and  your  beacon  beauty. 


Practical  publications. — For  teachers  who  desire  a  variety  of  practical  suggestions 
for  the  actual  organization  of  projects,  the  following  publications  are  suggested: 

"  Second  Report  of  the  Committee  on  New  Materials  of  Instruction,"  Twentieth 
Yearbook  of  the  National  Society  for  the  Study  of  Education,  Part  I.  Bloomington, 
Illinois:  Public  School  Publishing  Co.,  1921.  $1.30.  Over  two  hundred  examples 
briefly  described,  from  the  kindergarten  through  the  junior  high  school. 

Yearbooks  and  studies  in  education  of  the  Francis  W.  Parker  School.  Chicago: 
Francis  W.  Parker  School,  330  Webster  Avenue.  $0.45  per  volume.  While  each 
volume  contains  specific  accounts  of  projects,  Volume  II  (1913)  on  "The  Morning 
Exercise"  and  Volume  V  (1918)  on  "The  Course  in  Science"  are  particularly  full  of 
concrete  descriptions  of  the  actual  organizing  of  projects. 


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